The Pharisees had drifted into hundreds of laws which were not from God. Jesus arrived on the scene and simply requested, “follow me.” When we live our lives within the love of Christ, the change in us is promised to be remarkable. Slowly, day by day, we become new, holy, and sanctified in the Spirit.

In our every rush to do all of the things we want to do, we often forget how close our big God is to us. He cares intimately for us, knowing every hair on our heads!

If we honestly and prayerfully ask the Spirit to search and convict our hearts, we may begin to see the root of criticism branching out in all differing directions. Gossip, slander, mockery, and cynicism are all forms of criticism. They are all products of a critical spirit, and the list doesn’t end there. Beneath all of the “bad words” are ill inclinations driving a critical spirit.

Scripture instructs us to layer our hearts with God’s Word, building a firm foundation. When storms rage in our lives, the bedrock of faith we have built matters exponentially. Change, even good change, is a difficult adjustment. When our hearts and minds are stored up with the good things of the Lord, He is our stability when the view of our lives changes.

Chosen children of God, adopted into His family, we are called to seek the peace of Christ, in Christ; to read and meditate on the things he has told us. In this way, through our relationship with Him, we will begin to see the world, even our crazy generation, through the eyes of our Savior.

Every one of us has been carefully crafted by our Father in heaven with something that sparkles, something noticeably unique, a grand purpose all our own. The truth is, we are all brilliantly bright lights in God’s eyes. The One who knows every star by name, knows our hearts, our thoughts, our dreams, and His purpose for us.

Jesus is light, and He has already defeated the darkness. Darkness can agitate and throw curve balls, but the Light has already ultimately won in our hearts and lives. We only need to remember to turn to Him – to turn the light on.

Let's pray now for God to persevere us until the day we are finally and completely made perfect.

When we seek Him with all of our hearts, even when the steering malfunctions, He makes sure we somehow grip the last beam of the dock before we slip aimlessly down the channel. If we seek Him with all of our hearts, He is there. Even when do lose our way, He waits, ready to receive us when we turn to Him.

Sincere love is the Father sending His one and only Son Jesus to die for us – for the world – which we are all a part of until we are set a part through salvation. Sincere love is sacrificial. No one comes to the Father except through Christ Jesus.

As we grow in our faith, there will be seasons when we’re comfortable in our own skin, only to be met with another grow spurt. On and on, in a process called sanctification, from the day we accept Christ as our Savior until the day we arrive home in heaven for eternity, we are growing and maturing.

Jacob and his brother Esau, sons of Isaac and grandsons of Abraham, were said to have come out of the womb fighting. The story of the manipulative way Jacob convinced Esau to forgo his inheritance undoubtedly fueled the fire of adversity between them. Generation after generation, though the Lord had given them both land, these two sides of the same family fought each other. Eventually, the Edomites were destroyed to such an extent they are seemingly untraceable to this day.

God has not only purposefully placed people in our lives to pour wisdom into our hearts and minds, but He surrounds us with connecting moments when we seek to see Him in His word and throughout our days.